Africa has been troubled for a long time - well, the world has been troubled ever since I was born. Hugh Masekela More Quotes by Hugh Masekela More Quotes From Hugh Masekela I've got to where I am in life not because of something I brought to the world but through something I found - the wealth of African culture. Hugh Masekela african-musiclegacyculture My biggest obsession is to show Africans and the world who the people of Africa really are. Hugh Masekela obsessionpeopleworld I think it is incumbent on all human beings to oppose injustice in every form. Hugh Masekela injusticeformthinking I am a forward-looking person and live in the moment to build for the future. Hugh Masekela momentspersonslive-in-the-moment I lived for music since I could think. Hugh Masekela thinking I had to run away from home in order to be a musician. Because I came from a family of... my father was a health inspector; my mother was a social worker. And I was pretty smart in school. So they expected me to be some kind of academic - schoolteacher, or doctor, lawyer - and they were very disappointed when I told them I wanted to be a musician. Hugh Masekela smartmotherrunning The Afro-American experience is the only real culture that America has. Basically, every American tries to walk, talk, dress and behave like African Americans. Hugh Masekela realtryingamerica It's obvious that the rest of the world loves high African culture - African culture, period. Hugh Masekela world-loveperiodsculture I don't think any musician ever thinks about making a statement. I think everybody goes into music loving it. Hugh Masekela statementsmusicianthinking I've always stood on one fact - that all over the world, there are only two things, the Establishment and the poor people. The poor people are a massive majority and across the world they are exploited in different kinds of ways. The Establishment depends on exploiting raw materials and the poor. Hugh Masekela majoritytwopeople I think that anybody from the 20th century, up to now, has to be aware that if it wasn't for Louis Armstrong, we'd all be wearing powdered wigs. I think that Louis Armstrong loosened the world, helped people to be able to say "Yeah," and to walk with a little dip in their hip. Before Louis Armstrong, the world was definitely square, just like Christopher Columbus thought. Hugh Masekela squarespeoplethinking When people campaign for positions, they promise people all kinds of things. Hugh Masekela campaignspeoplepromise I don't think what I do is influenced by suffering. I come from a talented people who are prolific in music and dance. Hugh Masekela sufferingpeoplethinking All my experiences removed geography from my world. Hugh Masekela geographyworld I just came from South Africa, a place that had been in a perpetual uprising since 1653, so the uprising had become a way of life in our culture and we grew up with rallies and strikes and marches and boycotts. Hugh Masekela uprisingcultureway I grew up with protests, marches, demonstrations, struggle. But I come from a clan of community workers. Hugh Masekela marchcommunitystruggle In my view, Africa's real problems are cultural. Hugh Masekela problemrealviews When I left South Africa in 1960 I was 20 years old. I wanted to try to get an education, and music education was not available for me in South Africa. Hugh Masekela music-educationtryingyears I'm travelling more than ever. I don't have the answer as to why, but the demand seems to have grown as I've got older. Hugh Masekela demandseemsanswers To tell you the truth, man, we spend most of the time travelling in hotels, in festivals, in concert halls, clubs, airports. The most unenjoyable part is all the security at airports. Hugh Masekela airportsclubsmen
